November 2015 Volume 40 Number 5

Transcription

1 Letting the Good Times Roll Since 1975 November 2015 Volume 40 Number 5 Friday October 23rd, seven members braved to trek across the desert and join up in Palm Springs for the 2015 Great Western Fan Belt Toss & Swap Meet. It was Tucson-like weather but with large numbers of our favorite automobiles and several vendors. Saturday we setup the club space and sold some items but as the day progressed and items stopped selling we had our "Corvair-crier" Thomas use his loud voice and persuasive voice to get most of the items left on our blue tarp to disappear. Then in usual Thomas fashion he won a raffle during the day, at the Banquet later that evening, then again the following day. He also acquired many free parts from other folks. Ron and Mike scored an engine and wagon(nice), Sam sold lots of tins, Bill was able to keep his Corsanova powers in check, I found some nice 95 heads and Otto covers. Many of us took advantage of the discounts Clark's and Mike's Corvairs offered. It was a good meeting, start getting ready for 2016.

2 The Corvairsation is a monthly publication of the Tucson Corvair Association, which is dedicated to the preservation of the Corvair model of the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors. The Tucson Corvair Association is a chartered member of the Corvair Society of America (CORSA) as Chapter 357. Membership dues are $15 per year for individuals and $18 for families. Initial dues are $19 for individuals and $22 for families (includes name tags) for members of CORSA. Add $3 per person for non-corsa members. Make checks payable to the Tucson Corvair Association. Change of Address: Report any change of address or phone number to the Membership Chairperson. CORSA membership dues are $45 per year ($90 for 26 months) and include a subscription to the CORSA Communiqué, a bi-monthly publication. CORSA memberships is not required for membership in the Tucson Corvair Association, but is highly recommended. See any TCA officer for more information. Business Mailing Address: 5545 Camino del Celador, Tucson, Arizona Website address: address: tucsoncor- PRESIDENT Mike Lake 1363 Thunder Ridge Drive Tucson, AZ mls56@q.com VICE PRESIDENT Sam Pernu 2145 N Calle El Trigo Tucson, AZ spernu3@gmail.com. RECORDING SECRE- TARY/ Corvairsation EDITOR s Frank & FJ Trejo essedave@gmail.com TREASURER Allen Elvick 4210 S Preston Tucson, AZ amelvick@pcpeople.com MEMBER AT LARGE Gloria Trejo tucsonglo@gmail.com WEBMASTER Van Pershing vpersh@yahoo.com TUCSON CORVAIR ASSOCIATION Established 1975 MEMBERSHIP CHAIRMAN Ron Bloom 802 S Catalina Ave Tucson, AZ bloomaz@msn.com ASSISTANT EDITOR Chris Cunningham 1026 S. 7th Avenue Tucson, AZ arizaim@hotmail.com IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENTS Lynn Marrs N Gecko Canyon Trail Tucson, AZ lareservemanager@yahoo.com LIBBRARIAN Bill Maynard 3605 N Vine Tucson, AZ billmaynard@webtv.com MECHANDISE CHAIRMAN Don Robinson 5044 Shaimar Way Tucson, AZ fourcorvairs@hotmail.com TCA 2015 Events at a Glance Nov 28-29th Dec 9th Corvairs on the Vine at the Last Chance Garage Corvair s pieces-parts being saved for another day and another Corvair to be brought to life or beautified! We finally got the Plasma cutter going. Bill wants to create a new type of Vair.. Dave and Mike work to get Dave s 67 a new fender... Pomona Swap Meet in Arizona State Fairgrounds. Corvair Cruise??? TCA Christmas party Golden Corral 22nd/Columbus 6 to 9pm Bring $20 or less White Elephant Gift. Silent Auction (Donations are welcome) The improbable almost occurred when the Tucson Corvair Association visited the 2015 Western Belt Toss and Swap meet in Palm Springs. It was Saturday morning the first 10 teams receive t-shirts "Rule #1" comprised of Bill "Corsanova" Maynard and Sam "140" Pernu and The Trejo family consisting of Gloria and Javier "Town Crier" Trejo. The teams battled on in their own divisions and by midday the semifinals held a TCA team. Unfortunately both teams choked and at the end of the semifinal round both teams had fallen. Kudos to the Tucson Corvair Association for having a semi finalists in each division. Bill has graciously constructed several pairs of belt toss boards and now we can start practicing at our events and meetings.

3 October Meeting Minutes attending board meeting Mike, Ron, Sam, Bill, Frank, Sam and Bill will get nominating comittee Tech session tenatively for the 12th of December 10 to? Christmas party $20 max for white elephant, silent auction, phone comittee If we are lucky enought to get Jim Kaple's cars, we will make the 64 a club project. Regular meeting attendence Justin, Eileen, Bob and Carol, Thomas, Jet, Don, Bob Moulton, Guest Jerry Knapp Last meeting minutes approved 27 Thoroghbred Chevrolet Corvair Show in Chandler, Az. Representing TCA were Mike, Ron, Bill St. Gregory's Car Show had one, maybe two Corvairs. No members had their cars there. Chevy Showdown is moving to Casino del Sol Palm Springs great weekend New Business- Van's idea of updated project segements both on website and print Mike, Ron, Sam had good meeting with Gary DeMoss President of Friends of Corvairs. Events-Oct 31st Tucson Greyhound Park Swap meet and car show. November 7th Oreilly auto show Nov 14th Tucson Stree Rod Association Swap meet Nov 14th Speedway Cruising January 2016 event? City Bus museum tour showing with Bob Moulton coordinating John and Amy Young, Jim Mills donated items for Palm Springs swamp meet--thank YOU Raffle prizes for next meeting Bob, Mike, Allen, Frank Tech Session: Replacing carburetor shafts helps RPM's Disc brake conversion discussed Distriburators discussed Bob Traylor needs to replace rubbers on his Vair's Shocks. FOR SALE Frank Trejo has his 62 Yellow Coupe for sale. This is an A/C 4 speed, 95heads on a 110 block. The Engine has 2000 miles. Ask- President s Message First I would like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. Once again, as we sit down for Thanksgiving dinner, please keep Ken and Heide in your prayers. This is a time to be thankful for all we have in life. One of the things I'm most thankful for is the friends and experiences I have had since joining the club. Both have had a positive impact on my life. Thank you all for that. Our meeting this month is a week early, on the 18th, hope to see you all there. Sam and I had a chance to experience the Speedway Cruise event Saturday night. What I found so amazing was the sheer number of cars that came out to this event that I have never seen before. Everything from original 60's drag cars, 60's cruisers like Caddy's, Buicks and Oldsmobiles to muscle cars from all makes. Early coupes were in attendance as were Gasser style cars. I was not the only air cooled car there as there was a VW bug in attendance.of course there was also a group of "Fancy Falcons" on hand. There is always a bad apple in every bunch! For those who like cars, this is a must attend event next year! Don't forget the Christmas party is on Dec 9th at 6:00PM Location Golden Coral, 22nd and Columbus, Banquet room. There will be a White Elephant gift exchange ( $20.00 max) and a silent auction. Please come share the holiday celebration with us. Happy Thanksgiving, Mike FOR SALE 1963 Corvair Greenbriar. Automatic transmission, body is solid, glass is good. Was running when I parked it at my brother s in Marana. I was a long haul tuck driver. Was planning to restore it when I retired. I m now retired, but I am not a mechanic, nor do I have the tools or knowledge to overhaul the engine. It was a dream that I cannot realistically complete. I m hoping that someone can take my dream and run with it. Any reasonable offer will be considered. azrnmkr@cox.net Seller is David.

4 Big Bore Motors made with Mercedes & VW Parts Van Pershing Last time in the Corvairsation we told a little of the story of Gary Du Plessis of Pietermaritz- Fast forward a from where our story ended last time: Gary undertook a big bore project about three years ago for friend, Henty Van Der Merwe, who lives in Grahamstown, South Africa. Henty asked him if he d ever thought about building a Corvair motor with a really large bore. He immediately replied that he had always dreamed of such a project but the cost would be phenomenal. How would he do it? Using a crank stroked to specs; Volkswagen Vanagon 2-liter barrels; and Mercedes Benz 280se pistons and rings. That brings the cost to this point to about 8,000 Rand (about US$700). Henty decides he ll fund the project but he wants him to build two motors. One from him and the other for Gary! He started with a 60 crankcase which appeared to him to be just as strong as any and machined in the rod reliefs. The cylinders had to be machined so they would fit into the case properly. Once a trial assembly was done, he fabricated 14mm spacers to bring the Vanagon barrels to the same height as the standard Corvair barrels, which also had to have some machine work on the outside to accommodate the Corvair stud spacing. Vanagon barrels were chosen over the 94mm big bore VW Beetles units because they are a mm thicker and would enable them to be bored to fit the Merc pistons at 95.5mm. Two millimeters were shaved of the Mercedes piston tops to bring everything into sync. The rods are 65 Corvair machined for full-floating pins. Audi- Golf big-end rod bearings were used to save on cost plus the bearings are readily available. The Audi-Golf bearing at 0.010" under is exactly the same as the Corvair at standard. Some work had to be done on the fitting the piston pins. Henty installed the motor in his 60 4-door and says: My 3.2 liter big bore is a bit of a beast, but I love it! 14mm spacers were fabricated to bring the height of the Vanagon cylinders up to the same height as the Corvair s. The heads had to be opened up to accommodate the Vanagon cylinders. After boring the cylinders to fit the 95.5mm Mercedes pistons, 2mm of material had to be removed from the tops of the pistons. The Vanagon cylinder fins had to be reworked so the Corvair head stud pattern would fit.

5 Speaking of El Corvinos. As many of you know, TCA member Frank Trejo recently acquired a Corvair station wagon that had been converted into a pickup truck, ala El Camino. Here are some examples of other station wagon have had similar conversions. None look as nice as the Corvair.except maybe the green 56 Chevy. Plymouth Studebaker Ford Chevy Mercury Cadillac Chevy Chevy

6 Monthly Newsletter - November Vol. 40, No. 5 Corvair Society of America Chapter 857 Regular Monthly Meetings are held on the Fourth Wednesday of every month with a bull session starting at 6:30pm with the meeting starting at 7:00pm. The November meeting is generally held on the third Wednesday. The December meeting is our annual Christmas party with the time and place to be announced. MEETING PLACE: Kettle Restaurant, 748 W Starr Pass (I-10 and 22nd), Tucson, Arizona. Board of Director meetings are held at 5:30pm before the regular monthly meeting at the same location in the months of January, April, July, and October. All members are welcome to attend. This newsletter can also be accessed at Tucson Corvair Association 5545 Cmo del Celador Tucson, AZ November 2015 Volume 40, Number 5